Camp Duc Hue - The North Vietnamese Army

There were two major North Vietnamese Army units just across the Cambodian border from Camp Duc Hue, home of A325, A/5th Special Forces Group. The two units, the 271st & 272nd Regiments of the 9th NVA Division were based in Ba Thu, Cambodia. An NVA regiment had about 1500 men in it. The 9th NVA Division was often referred to as the 9th VC Division although its major troop units were NVA. The 88th NVA Regiment also belonged to the 9th division. I doubt that both regiments were ever at Ba Thu at the same time but Ba Thu was their base area. Did Camp Duc Hue keep the NVA bottled up in Cambodia? No. They moved to the north or south of the camp almost at will. Did they attack Duc Hue? Yes, but not a direct infantry assault on the camp. While I was there the most serious attack was an attack with automatic weapons fire, RPGs, and mortars. There were more than 100 mortar rounds fired within a short time, perhaps ten or fifteen minutes. Our casualties were light. The air support we were able to call in did some damage to the NVA. We found evidence of that the next morning. We joked that they were on their way back to Ba Thu and were tired of carrying all those mortar rounds so they unloaded them on us. I don't know it that was true or not but it sounded good. Much more common were mortar attacks with 82 and 120mm mortars. These were normally fired from the area of the Angel's Wing. Again, the humor was that they had a mortar school set up there, the closest point to us, and we were the final exam for their students. The rockets starting falling when I was there, mainly Katyusha 107mm plus some heavier stuff. Scarey stuff. Duc Hue a distinct terrain advantage, something that our sister camps to the north did not enjoy. It was mostly wide open around the camp. Anyone attacking the camp would be easy prey for return fire, both direct and indirect from camp, and any air assets we could bring to our defense. It would have been suicide for one of the regiments to attack. Ba Thu was not our only worry though. There were other enemy units across the border. I once watched an unknown aircraft fly along the border at several thousand feet. As he continued north from Ba Thu, twenty-three different anti-aircraft guns opened up on him, one after the other as he flew north. The largest appeared to be 37mm. An operation that I was involved with went into the armpit of the Angel's Wing and found what was estimated to be a battalion of NVA. The enemy owned the other side of the border, no doubt. We had around 500 lightly armed Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG)soldiers, two 105mm tubes from an ARVN artillery unit, two 81mm and two 4.2inch mortars. We were isolated, all supplies had to be hooked in by helicopter. The stress level was high but life went on inside the camp. We had decent chow, cold beer and soda, an occasional movie, mail from home and even left camp once in awhile for reasons other than combat operations. R & R was on everyone's schedule and business in Tay Ninh, Binh Hoa or Saigon wasn't all business. Things were not all bad.

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5th Special Forces Group, A325, Agroville, B32, Duc Hue, Hoa Binh, North Vietnamese Army, The Angel Wing, The Parrots Beak, The Red Dragon, Vam Co Dong River

Camp Duc Hue, 5th Special Forces Group

Camp Hoa Binh in The Red Dragon is fictional. While in Special Forces I spent seven months at Camp Duc Hue in Hau Nghia Province, III Corps, South Vietnam. The team designation was A325, it belonged to B32. This camp was located on the Cambodian border under the border feature named The Angel Wing. It was located in Duc Hue District but the district seat, the village of Duc Hue, was located across the Vam Co Dong River. On the west side of the river where the camp was located there were no populated areas. Basically this was a free-fire zone. Anyone moving through the area was considered to be an enemy. When I was there, from September, 1968 to April, 1969, enemy meant the North Vietnamese Army. The border was about five clicks or about three miles away. The area where the camp was located was some sort of farming area when the French controlled what was then Indochina. The area was named "Agroville" on the maps. There were some man-made features there. I remember at least one lake that was square in shape and some roads. I also remember a derelict piece of road equipment abandoned by the road. I assume there was once a bridge across the Vam Co Dong River that allowed vehicular traffic to reach this area. Our attention was always toward Cambodia, I never saw the river. Our operational area consisted of abandoned rice fields. When you left camp on an operation you went into the water and stayed in the water unless you came upon an abandoned 'tree square', a place that once was a homestead. These tree squares are where we normally stopped to eat or remain over night (RON). They were also the most likely place to be booby-trapped. As you approached parts of the border you would find vegetated areas and dry ground. I live in northern Alabama. As I cross the Tennessee River going north, there are two areas that always remind me of Vietnam. One is a wet area surrounded by trees that reminds me of my second tour in Vietnam, served in Mekong Delta. A bit north of the Tennessee River is a cotton field with a tree square in the middle of it. It too is abandoned, once being a homestead. Everytime I see that, whether there's cotton planted or not, it reminds me of the tree squares we saw on operations at Duc Hue. There's still a hint of uneasiness in me, not as strong as back in those days, but still a hint, that danger lurks there.

5th+Special+Forces+Group A325 Agroville B32 Duc+Hue Hoa+Binh North+Vietnamese+Army The+Angels+Wing The+Parrots+Beak The+Red+Dragon Vam+Co+Dong+River NVA 5th+SFG